Israeli Forces Hit WHO Staff Residence 3 Times, Strip and Detain Staff : Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

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WHO ’s staff residence in Deir al Balah, #Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse. 

 Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint. 

 Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff remains in detention. 

 32 WHO staff and family members were evacuated to the WHO office once access became possible. WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff. 

The latest evacuation order in Deir al Balah has affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse. 

WHO’s main warehouse located in Deir al Balah is within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside. With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment. 

 WHO urgently calls on Member States to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza. As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO’s operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza. A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue.

From NYTimes article

In the raid on the U.N. facility, a World Health Organization building in the city of Deir al-Balah, Israeli forces handcuffed and stripped male staff and family members and held them at gunpoint, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the agency, said in a statement. Women and children were forcibly evacuated south in the raid, which took place on Monday, he added.

The Israeli military said that its forces had come under fire while operating in the area. It did not deny raiding the W.H.O. facility but said that any “suspects” had been treated “in accordance with international law.”
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Deir al-Balah has became an informal refuge for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza, and huge tent camps have sprung up in the city. In the relative calm, a modicum of normalcy had survived. The city also hosts major warehouses for the United Nations, as well as guesthouses for the organization’s staff.